This Time It Was Recorded

Robert P. Imbelli March 5, 2014 - 11:31am

Pope Francis was interviewed by the editor of Corriere della Sera who brought a number of recording devices to the interview.

It has been published in its entirety in Corriere as well as in L'Osservatore Romano[1]. There are many topics covered that will elicit much commentary. The fullest account in English I've seen is the report[2] by Gerard O'Connell in Vatican Insider.

Here is one personal observation the Pope makes:

“I like to be among people, to be with the one who is suffering, to go into the parishes”, he stated. But he denied that he has gone out at night to feed the down and outs near the Vatican. He made clear however that he detests being depicted as a kind of superman or star: “Sigmund Freud said that in every idealization there is an aggression. To depict the Pope as a kind of superman or a star seems to me offensive”.

And on Humanae Vitae Francis said:

When asked whether the Church would again revisit the question of birth control, some 50 years after Humanae Vitae, Francis recalled that, at the end, Paul VI “recommended that confessors should be very merciful, and be attentive to the concrete situations”. Francis praised his predecessor for being “prophetic” and for “having the courage to go against the majority, to defend the moral discipline, to exercise a cultural brake, and to oppose present and future Neo-Malthusianism.” But, he said, it is not a question of changing doctrine, rather “it is a matter of going into the issue in depth and bringing it about that the pastoral practice takes account of situations and of what is possible for persons”. This will be discussed at the synod, he added.